Speech to both Houses of Parliament that He esteems it one of the greatest Advantages of Peace that he is now at Leisure to apply himself to the Suppressing of Prophaneness and Immoralities and hath thereby given us some reason to hope that he may think it a far greater Glory of his Reign to be an Instrument in God's Hand of delivering us from the Slavery of our Vices of making us a virtuous and by consequence a happy People than in procuring us any other present and secular Felicities and Advantages and at last leaving us deluged in such Impieties as Infidels abhor and which may make God our Enemy and draw down his Vengeance upon us That they would for this purpose consider the Influence of their Authority their Interest their Fortunes and their Example and Employ which they cannot without high Ingratitude omit these and the other Advantages they have above Men of lower Ranks for the Glory of that God by whose Permission they have them for the Noble purposes of Opposing and Suppressing Debauchery and Prophaneness the retrieving the Reputation of Virtue the furthering the Interests of Religion and the saving of their Country which hath seemed to have declared in favour of Vice and Ruine and thereby approve themselves to the King as He hath now assured them they will to the Wise and Virtuous part of the Nation to their own Consciences to their Posterity and above all to the most High God To the Reverend the CLERGY That they who are looked upon as the Ambassadours of the Great God of Heaven and Earth and sent upon the most important Business of Reconciling Men to God and Watching for their 2 Cor. 5. 18 20. Heb. 13. 17. Souls and have as I conceive their Honour their Dignities and their Revenues given them without the common Incumbrances of other Men in regard to their Sacred Office and that they may attend without Worldly Cares and with the greatest Advantage to their Spiritual Employment would consider whether they have not a more favourable Opportunity for the Work of their Ministry and a National Reformation at this time than they have had for many years past They cannot I humbly presume but be sensible of the most deplorable Degeneracy of this Nation that the great Decay of Religion and the Leprosie of Vice and Prophaneness with which it is almost overspread does threaten its Ruine and that they have great reason to take to heart the no greater Success of their Endeavours for the Reforming of us that their Discipline which if it had been in force might have proved a Bank against the Flood of Wickedness that is broken in upon us is now so lost that it is of little use to them for this purpose that there appears too great ground to fear that the Tide of Wickedness will not be stopped whilst Religion is openly dishonoured Virtue despised and Vice and Prophaneness are so daring and triumphant that Men commit them not only with Impunity but Glory in them so as to esteem it an Act of Gallantry to ridicule their Sacred Office to contemn things Sacred and an Ornament of Style to imprecate Damnation upon themselves Is not this a Time for them that are Spiritual Watchmen and Overseers of the Flock of Christ Isa 52. 8. 56. 10. Acts 20. 28. as they have a Concern for God's Honour and would prevent his Judgments falling upon us as they would consult the Honour and Interest of their sacred Order and their own Reputation to concur with His Majesty's pious Declarations for this purpose and cheerfully to embrace the Assistance of the Civil Power for the Vindicating of the Honour of God's Laws the Stopping the Avenues to notorious Enormities the breaking the hellish Confederacies and the taking out of publick View the contagious Examples of bad Men and by these Methods to prepare Men the better for the Restoration of godly Discipline for the greater Influence of their Doctrine and good Examples upon their Minds Is not this a Time for them to favour the successfull Endeavours of the Societies of Reformation which are levell'd at the strong holds of Debauchery and the Religious Societies that are now spreading through the Kingdom that seem so directly to tend to the Promoting the Power of Religion so far as they carry on those great Ends wherein we may I think appeal to the whole Christian World whether they do not do it and readily to accept of the Assistance that is now or hereafter may be given them by Christians of any Denomination in the common Cause of Christianity And if they can think of any other or better Measures than those that are recommended in these Papers that may promote the Glory of God and the Good of Souls for whom Christ died and their own comfortable Account of themselves to Him that will judge the Quick and Dead to engage in them 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. without delay with united Counsels and Endeavours with double Diligence and Zeal and in Conjunction with all the various Works of their Ministry among which their going from House to House for the enquiring into the Acts 20. 20 21. Spiritual State of the Souls of those that are committed to their Charge and the applying proper Directions and Encouragements accordingly in the Judgment of the most pious Divines I have had the Honour to know is thought to be a very usefull Method is what one of the most * Dr. Stillingfleet the late Bishop of Worcester's Charge to the Clergy of his Diocess p. 25. Learned Prelates of this Age and Nation hath in his printed Charge to the Clergy of his Diocess put them in mind of and which †The Bishop of Salisbury's Pastoral Care p. 207. another of our Learned Bishops hath told this Sacred Order in his Pastoral Care published by the particular Approbation of the late Great Primate Arch-Bishop Tillotson is to be lookt on as the Foundation an Exemplary Life being supposed on which all the other parts of the Ministerial Office may be well managed and which he says will seem no hard matter to such as have a right sense of their Ordination Vows of the Dignity of their Function or the Value of Souls To the MAGISTRATES of all kinds That they would make just Reflections upon that terrible and lasting Imputation that they do now lie under by His Majesty ' s Proclamation which is to be read Four times a Year in all Churches through the Nation and the Address of the late Honourable House of Commons to the King of their being so great a Cause of the Debauchery and Prophaneness of the Kingdom by their ill Example and Negligence in their Office That they would consider as hath been observed how many Nations have been ruined and Cities brought to a heap of Rubbish for their Immoralities which the Magistrates Vigilance might have prevented That their Power comes from God the Fountain of all Power and that they are supposed to be
Undertaking as we might well believe would soon alarm the Enemy but which the Patrons of Vice would make no doubt to deseat before any Progress could be made and which the Prudent and Wise Men of the World who rely on second Causes with too little regard to the first the Almighty Creator and Governor of the World with whom as King Asa expresses it in his Prayer it is nothing to help whether â— Chron. 14. 10. with many or with those that have no power would look on with Pity if not with Derision and so it proved that the Champions and Advocates of Debauchery put themselves in Array to defend their wretched and infamous Liberties they set themselves to Ridicule to Defame and to Oppose this Design and to Overthrow the Hopes and Expectations of the Undertakers And some others whom in Charity we would not look on as Enemies of Religion and Virtue tho' we cannot easily esteem them our Friends whose Conduct has so greatly obstructed the Progress of this Design consulting Human Prudence or rather Worldly Policy too much and perhaps their own Obligations too little were very forward to censure these Attempts as the Effect of an imprudent and an unseasonable Zeal But notwithstanding a furious Opposition from Adversaries the ill Offices of those from whom better things might have been expected and the unkind Neutrality of Friends these Gentlemen who in a little time began to add some others to their Number not only kept their Ground but made farther Advances for our late Excellent QUEEN of Glorious Memory having this Affair laid before Her in the Absence of the King by a Prelate of great Learning and Fame the late Lord Bishop of Worcester She had just Sentiments of it and therefore thought it became Her to give it Countenance She Graciously condescended to Thank those who were concerned in it and readily promised them Her Assistance and afterwards upon this Application made to Her Majesty She was pleased to send Her Letter to the Justices of Middlesex commanding them to put the Laws against Prophaneness and Vice in Execution with all Fidelity and Impartiality and to this end that they should be careful and diligent in encouraging all Persons to do their part in giving Informations against Offenders as they were obliged by their Oath as Magistrates to do and when there was further Occasion She shew'd She was in earnest to promote this Design by taking other more effectual Methods for that purpose But as it may well be supposed That the Queen's patronizing of these Endeavours could not but give Credit and Strength to them so the Affair by Her Death it may as easily be imagined must lose a great Advantage But yet the Loss tho' it appeared exceedingly great did not discourage those that were ingaged in this Enterprize For as they first set about it with little or no Expectation of such a Patroness because they thought it would be an acceptable Service to the King of Kings and that it would promote the true Interests of Religion and the Welfare of their Country So the same Considerations obliged them to pursue their Design with equal Vigour and Zeal tho' they were deprived of so great a Friend and Protector And Divine Providence had by this time seemed to favour their Endeavours by the great and remarkable Success that had attended them for Multitudes of Offenders had been by their means brought to Punishment The Publick Opposition that was at first made to their Vndertaking was broke through which the Lord Bishop of Gloucester who hath been a great Encourager of this Undertaking gave an Account of in his Vindication of it which it may be wished there may never be any further Occasion to remember and the Honesty of it had recommended it to the Virtuous and Unprejudiced part of the Nation whom the Account of these Matters had reached the Enemy after a severe Examination having not been able to discover that any illegal Methods had been used or that any secular Interest was pursued by those who bestow'd their Time and their Pains in carrying on so ungrateful and hazardous a Work as that of Reformation will be always found since it is the Opposing of ill Men in their sinful Indulgencies which are often more desirable to them than their very Lives With these Encouragements they prosecuted their Business increasing their Number by the Addition of Persons of considerable Note and of the best Character some of whom tho' they were of different Opinions from those of the Establish'd Church as to some Points concerning Religion were willing to unite their Strength in the common Cause of Christianity and engage in so Noble a Design that had done so much Good By whose joint Endeavours great Advances have been made towards a Reformation of Manners which is every Day getting ground Persons of various Ranks of considerable Fortunes and of the clearest Character offering Assistance to it not only in and about the City of London but from several Parts of the Kingdom But since it hath been long desired that a more distinct and clear View may be given to the World of this Vndertaking and of the Advances of it which those that have been principally concerned in it so industriously consulting Privacy have not hitherto been prevailed on by any Temptations either of Vanity or Resentment to make publick being more desirous that it should be known by the good Effects it produces than by any History or Narrative I ask leave to present the World with a short Scheme of the Design and some Account of the Managers of it that the well-disposed part of the Nation that have hitherto been Strangers to it may by the Knowledge thereof be induced to join in so good a Work and now especially since this Conjuncture is so favourable to it beyond our Expectation There is a very large Body of Persons compos'd of the Original Society before-mentioned with the Additions that have been since made of Persons of Eminency in the Law Members of Parliament Justices of Peace and considerable Citizens of London of known Abilities and great Integrity who frequently meet to consult of the best Methods for carrying on the Business of Reformation and to be ready to advise and assist others that are already ingaged or any that are willing to join in the same Design This Society is at a considerable Yearly Charge for the effectual managing their Business but takes no Contributions of any but their own Members by whose Endeavours as was said before Thousands of Offenders in London and Westminster have been brought to Punishment for Swearing Drunkenness and Prophanation of the Lord's-Day and a great part of the Kingdom has been awakened in some measure to a sence of their Duty in this respect and thereby a very hopeful Progress is made towards a General Reformation A Second Society is of about Fifty Persons Tradesmen and others who have more especially applyed themselves to the Suppression of Lewdness by
bringing the Offenders to legal Punishment These may have actually suppressed and rooted out about Five Hundred Disorderly Houses and caused to be punished some Thousands of Lewd Persons besides Swearers Drunkards and Prophaners of the Lord's-Day as may appear by their Printed Lists of Offenders These Persons by their prudent and legal Management of their Business have received great Countenance and Encouragement in our Courts of Judicature and very particular Encouragement and Assistance for several Years past from the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen who are sensible of the great Service that is done by them which they express upon proper Occasions A Third Society is of Constables of which sort of Officers Care is taken to form Yearly a new Body in this City who meet to consider of the most Effectual way to discharge their Oaths to acquaint one another with the Difficulties they meet with to resolve on proper Remedies to divide themselves in the several Parts of the City so as to take in the whole to the best Advantage for the inspecting of Disorderly Houses taking up of Drunkards Lewd Persons Prophaners of the Lord's-Day and Swearers out of the Streets and Markets and carrying them before the Magistrates and I must observe that this is found a very successful Method for Constables to take for the Suppressing of the abominable Sin of Swearing when Private Persons are negligent in giving of Informations and the Magistrate is careless of his Duty A Fourth Rank of Men who have been so highly Instrumental in this Vndertaking that they may be reckoned a Corner-Stone of it is of such as have made it some part of their Business to give Informations to the Magistrate as they have had Opportunity of such Breaches of the Laws as were before mentioned Many of these Persons have given the World a great and almost unheard-of Example in this corrupt Age of Zeal and Christian Courage having underwent at the beginning more especially of these Proceedings many Abuses and great Reproaches not only from exasperated and hardned Offenders but often from their luke-warm Friends Irreligious Relations and sometimes from Vnfaithful Magistrates by whom they have been Reviled Brow-beaten and Discouraged from performing such important Service so necessary to the Welfare of their Country And herein these brave Men have acted with so great Prudence as well as Zeal that foreseeing it might one day be the Policy of the Enemy of all Goodness and the Business of wicked Men who are his Instruments and who could not generally be brought to Shame and Punishment for their infamous Practices but by their means to raise Prejudices in the Minds of bad and unthinking People against them and to disparage their Proceedings by whispering of Jealousies of their being influenced in what they did by Worldly Considerations That the World may be challenged to make appear That these Societies have been so much as treated with by any Person whatsoever to give Informations with any Promise of a Reward or that they have ever received the least Advantage by any Convictions upon these Statutes against Prophaneness and Debauchery the Money arising thereby being wholly appropriated to the Poor except the third part of the Penalty upon the Statute against Prophanation of the Lord's-Day which in some Cases the Magistrate hath a bare Power to dispose of but was never that we know of received by any one of these Persons which I thought fit to observe as a lasting Answer to any Objection of this kind in Justice to them who have gone through Frowns and Reproaches for the sake of doing so much Good and that all Men may see with how great Reason it is both from the Character of the Persons concerned in the Discharging of this Service to Religion and their Country as well as from the Nature and Necessity of it which I shall hereafter enquire into that the Name of an Informer is now become much more Glorious among wise and good Men than it was grown Contemptible by the ill Practices of some in our days And that it does therefore appear truly Honourable for Persons of the greatest Quality to give Informations in these Cases for the Service of the most High God as some among us of greater Ranks than the World does perhaps think of have of late done and which it hath been observed in divers Discourses lately Published that even Princes under the Jewish Dispensation were not ashamed to do Now when these things were Ezra 9. 1 2. done the Princes came to me saying The people of Israel and the Priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the Lands doing according to their Abominations c. There are Eight other regulated and mixt Bodies of House-keepers and Officers in the several Quarters of London Westminster and Southwark who differ in their Constitution from those before-mentioned but generally agree in the Methods of inspecting the Behaviour of Constables and other Officers and going along with them and assisting them in their Searching of Disorderly Houses in taking up of Offenders and carrying them before the Magistrate and also in giving Imformations themselves as there is Occasion Besides those before-mentioned there are about Nine and Thirty Religious Societies of another kind in and about London and Westminster which are propagated into other Parts of the Nation as Nottingham Gloucester c. and even into Ireland where they have been for some Months since spreading in divers Towns and Cities of that Kingdom as Kilkenny Drogheda Mannouth c. especially in Dublin where there are about Ten of these Societies which are promoted by the Bishops and inferior Clergy there These Persons meet often to Pray Sing Psalms and Read the Holy Scriptures together and to Reprove Exhort and Edifie one another by their Religious Conferences They moreover carry on at their Meetings Designs of Charity of different kinds such as Relieving the Wants of Poor House-keepers maintaining their Children at School setting of Prisoners at Liberty supporting of Lectures and daily Prayers in our Churches These are the SOCIETIES which our late Gracious Queen as the Learned Bishop that hath writ her LIFE tells us took so great Satisfaction in that She inquired often and much about them and was glad they went on and prevailed which thanks be to GOD they continue to do as the Reverend Mr. Woodward who hath obliged the World with a very particular Account of the Rise and Progress of them hath lately acquainted us And these likewise are SOCIETIES that have proved so exeeedingly Serviceable in the Work of REFORMATION that they may be reckoned a chief Support to it as our late Great Primate Arch-Bishop Tillotson declar'd upon several Occasions after he had examined their Orders and inquired into their Lives That he thought they were to the Church of England I might now give an Account of a Society of Ministers of the Church of England for carrying on of this Work and another Agreement of Justices of
false Friends suffering cruel Mockings unkind Censures and unjust Reproaches and yet not giving way We have seen them surmounting their greatest Difficulties so that the main brunt seems now near over and going on with that Resolution and Success that the Deluge of publick Wickedness is visibly abated We are told that many Thousands have been brought to Punishment for Swearing and Cursing by their means Seventy or Eighty Warrants a Week having been executed on these Offenders in and about this City only since the late Act of Parliament against Swearing and Cursing was made which hath given so great and remarkable a Check to those Scandalous Sins that our Constables sometimes of late have found it difficult to take up a Swearer in divers of our Streets and Markets where within a few years past horrid Oaths Curses and Imprecations were heard Day and Night that a multitude of Drunkards and Prophaners of the Lord's Day some of whom kept as it were open Markets within a few Years past have been made Examples by their means that Hundreds of Disorderly Houses which were little better than Stews and Nests for Thieves Clippers and Coiners c. have been rooted out and suppressed and that some Thousands of Lewd Persons have been Imprisoned Fined and Whipt so that the Tower-End of the Town and many of our Streets have been much purg'd of that pestilent Generation of Night-Walkers that used to infest them which were a Reproach to this Noble City and a Scandal to Christianity Forty or Fifty of them having been sent in a Week to Bridewell where they have of late received such Discipline that a considerable Number of them hath chose rather to be Transported to our Plantations to work there for an honest Subsistence than to expose themselves by their lewd way of Living to Shame and Punishment to Poverty and Disease to all sorts of wicked Practices and the Danger of the Gallows to which in the Conclusion they are often if not generally brought And I may justly add That far greater Things by the Application of the Original Society of Gentlemen have been accomplished than what have yet been mentioned and such as I am not permitted at this time to discover But thus much may be said That the Endeavours of those Gentlemen have not been consined to this City and Kingdom but have extended as far as Ireland where they have had an Influence very little I think to the Honour of that Kingdom from whence it had its first Rise of which since a more particular Account may be expected I may satisfy my self at present with saying in general of my own Knowledge That the Transactions of Reformation here having been near Two Years since laid before some few Persons in Ireland and most of those I must again observe private Persons and of the lower Rank of Men with proper Considerations to move 'em to unite in the same Design and Methods to pursue it with Advantage it determined them to engage heartily in it and they have prosecuted it with so much Vigour that there are now several Societies for Reformation in the City of Dublin which I am assured by divers Accounts that I have in my Hands from thence are spreading into several Parts of the Kingdom and are encouraged by his Excellency the Earl of Galloway one of the Lords Justices of Ireland the Right Reverend the Arch-Bishop of Dublin many of the Clergy and the best of the Magistrates and Gentlemen of that City In One of which Societies most of the Parish-Ministers of Dublin several of the pious Bishops particularly the celebrated Arch-Bishop and divers other Persons of Quality are Members some of whom have shewn a Zeal which if it prevailed the Three Kingdoms over might soon produce a Glorious Reverse of the State they are now in and which in less than Two Years space hath succeeded tho' not without such various Oppositions as might be expected from Combinations of bad Men to that degree in Dublin that the Prophanation of the Lord's Day by Tipling in publick Houses by Exercising of Trade and Exposing of Goods to Sale is almost supprest that Lewd Women are so strictly enquired after and severely punished that they have Transported themselves as in England to our Plantations and that Swearing is so run down that an Oath is rarely heard in their Streets so that publick Disorders are remarkably cured and in short Vice is afraid and ashamed to shew its head where within a few Years past it was daring and Triumphant We are likewise assured That Scotland hath concurred in these Matters where His Majesty's Proclamation against Prophaneness and Debauchery hath been issued out in very strict terms and His late Gracious Letter to the Parliament of that Kingdom takes notice of the Progress that they have made in the Forming of Methods for the Discouraging of Vice and Irreligion and assures them That 't is a WORK most acceptable to him But to return to our own Nation We are made acquainted That many Societies and Bodies of Men of different Ranks and Perswasions are ingaged in this Work to which Men of Virtue of Temper and unblemished Reputation may either join themselves according to their Quality Circumstances or Opportunities or may form themselves into new Bodies That the publick Opposition that was made to it which our Posterity may blush to read of is at an end which 't is to be hoped will be the last that we shall hear of in a Christian State and under a Protestant Government That the City of London espouses it where there are Two Sermons Quarterly Preached and divers of them Printed to make Men sensible of their Obligations in this respect And it 's true also That Swearing is much lessened as we have reason to believe by the Accounts we receive in most if not in all Parts of the Kingdom as other publick Disorders are in many and that Societies for Reformation have been in divers Places already actually form'd and are going on in many others as particularly in Gloucester Leicester Coventry Shrewsbury Hull Nottingham Tamworth Newcastle Leverpool Chester and several other Corporations so that in a few Months time by the Methods that are now taking there is reason to believe that we shall hear of a very considerable Progress in this Work from all Parts of the Nation And now is this a Time for Men that would be reckoned Christians to stand Neuters in an Affair wherein their Religion their Country and their Posterity are so deeply concerned Let the Men who can contentedly see the Laws of GOD trampled upon who can in their ordinary Conversation in the Streets and even at their own Tables hear horrid Oaths and Curses nay Men calling upon GOD for Damnation upon themselves and others in a word offering high Indignities to the Glorious Majesty of their Great Creator consider whether the very Heathens who would not suffer their Artificial Deities to be affronted or their Religion to be despis'd who in
Souls are in so great and evident danger of being for ever lost to endeavour by the Magistrates Punishment of them to scarifie and awaken them out of their deadly Sleep to a Sense of their dangerous Condition and the Consideration of it which may have its beginning in the Fear of the Law that they are driven to by the Shame and Punishment that is thereby brought upon them may be a means of working the happiest Effects may end in their heartily embracing wholsome Counsels And will not they then think that they that brought them to legal Correction did them a Kindness how grievous soever it was to them when it was upon them and that it was happy for them that they met with that Punishment that led them to Wisdom and when this Method for the good of our Neighbour's Soul fails we may as after the use of other proper means for the Cure of his Body though without Effect reasonably give our selves some satisfaction upon this Consideration alone But in the next place this Practice is however a high Service to the Community for Religion being every Man 's great Interest every one's Work or Duty * Religio contaminata ad omnium pertinet Injuriam the Community according to the Sense of the Civil Law is injured by the Contempt that is flung upon it by the open Affronts and Violations of it which every Man as in a common Cause is therefore concerned to prevent Now the Exemplary Punishment of open Offenders is the proper way as Reason and Experience may convince us to repress publick Vice and Prophaneness to keep the Generality from it and to prevent God's Dishonour It is I conceive one way moreover to keep us from being Partakers in other Men's Sins and to take away National Guilt for a Nation may then be supposed to contract publick Guilt when Wickedness is publick and insolent when the Supreme or Subordinate Magistrates and Ministers do by their own ill Examples and by their not Exercising their Power or Authority countenance and confirm Men in it and the Body of the People have no concern for the Suppressing of it But a Nation is not thought to draw upon it that publick Guilt which calls for National Punishment by the private Sins of particular Persons which could not be prevented by either the Magistrates Ministers or the Peoples Care and Endeavours much of which seem to be intimated to us as from other Texts of Scripture so particularly from these following The hands of the Witnesses shall Deut. 17. 7. be first upon him to put him to Death and afterward the hands of all the People So thou shalt put the Evil away from among you And all the People shall hear and fear and do Ver. 13. Deut. 21. 19. no more presumptuously Then shall his Father and his Mother lay hold on him and bring him unto the Elders of his City and unto the Gate of his Place And they shall say unto the Ver. 20. Elders of his City This our Son is stubborn and rebellious he will not obey our Voice he is a Glutton and a Drunkard And all the Men of Ver. 21. his City shall stone him with Stones that he die So shalt thou put Evil away from among you and all Israel shall hear and fear Where we may observe that for the suppressing of Sin and the preventing of publick Guilt even Parents were commanded to bring their own Children to be punished with Death if after they were corrected by them for Gluttony and Drunkenness c. they were not amended by it If then the Punishment of Offenders by the Execution of the Laws against Debauchery and Prophaneness is necessary to the Suppressing of Vice and those Laws will not be generally Executed unless Persons acquaint Magistrates with the Breaches of them if those that do so exercise Charity to the Souls of the Offenders take a proper course thereby to avoid a Participation in their Guilt to make a Provision for the Wants of the Poor to promote a general Reformation of Manners to remove National Guilt and prevent God's Judgments falling upon the Body of a People can any wise and good Men that duly consider these things conclude that they that zealously and upon proper occasions give informations to the Magistrates of the crying Enormities of this Kingdom do that which is not agreeable to their Profession as becomes Christians or as good Members of the Community nay that considering our present circumstances that there is so little probability that a general Reformation of Manners will be carried on without it whether they are not almost if not altogether as necessary for this purpose as our Statute-Book I was like to have said as even our Magistracy And then lastly can any wise and unprejudiced Men think that such serviceable Persons as these that often expose themselves to Inconveniencies in discharging this Office for Conscience-sake which may be perhaps the most difficult and invidious and therefore a highly honourable part in this arduous work of Reformation do not deserve great respect and good words at least from those who tho' they have just thoughts of the Reasonableness and Necessity of it have not Zeal enough themselves to discharge it and the good words that are given them and the respect that is paid them upon this account may in many cases be a means of furthering this work which are such cheap and safe things that 't is to be hoped they will not be thought too much to be afforded by the most faint-hearted Christian that is willing to contribute any Endeavours towards it which it may be expected those that deserve the Name of Christians will For though those brave Men are thus willing to expose themselves often to reproach and hardships from bad Men for such noble purposes it will I think notwithstanding considering the infirmities of Humane nature and the wickedness of this Nation be our Prudence and Religion to endeavour by all proper methods to prevent their being put too much upon the tryal of Sufferings from profligate Men which 't is self-evident our particular countenance of them and speaking well of their Actions upon all due occasions will effectually do Our Laws suppose such Men thus highly usefull as clear reason tells us they are for the promotion of Virtue and indeed for the preservation of any Government Her late Majesty of Glorious Memory in pursuance of Her great Design of Reforming the Nation did therefore in Her Gracious Letter to the Justices of Middlesex Command them to give Encouragement to those Persons that should bring them Informations of these Offences and the Justices of Middlesex the Magistrates of London and of divers other Cities of the Kingdom from a sense of the great Service that is done the Publick by such persons giving Informations or rather as may be supposed from the absolute necessity of it do in their Printed Orders invite those that are Well-wishers to their Country
all the Politicians in the World to form a sound Scheme of Government without supposing and securing Religion for the Basis of it And as we never heard of a Government that publickly declared for Immorality so if we could ever suppose there should be any such nay that there were such a one where a considerable Number of such Monsters should obtain and keep the Ascendency in any Government we might conclude what its Fate would sooner or later be †Accidit Magistratuum negligentia vitiis Nobilium cives paulatim à virtute desciscunt variisque malis rempublicam afficiunt quibus inundatis rempublicam fluctuare necesse est For when Religion is despis'd and Virtue is lost in a Nation which as hath been proved would in time be the consequence of a publick Contempt of it how easie a Prey will it prove to its Neighbours Or how unavoidably will it fall into Divisions Confusion and Ruine of it self Of such consequence therefore Religion and Virtue seem plainly to be to a Nation abstracting from the Consideration of a Just God that rules in the Kingdoms of the Earth that rewards Righteous Nations with Prosperity and executes Justice upon those that are Wicked which we must believe if we have any due regard to Sacred or Prophane History to the Experience and Suffrage of all Ages of the World For thus it is said in the Holy Scriptures to this purpose The Nation and Kingdom Isa 60. 12. that will not serve thee shall perish yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted A fruitfull Psal 107. 34. Land he turneth into Barrenness for the Wickedness of them that dwell therein And by the Account that is given us in the Word of God of the Divine Justice of God's charging Deut. 21. 1 8 9. Guilt upon Nations as well as upon particular Persons and of his Proceeding with the Old World the Jewish Nation c. have we not sufficient Reason to think that in the ordinary Course of God's Providence a Nation that is eminently Righteous should have his Blessing in an eminent Manner and that a Nation that is remarkably Wicked will feel sooner or later the Effects of his Displeasure We are acquainted that before God destroyed the Old World He saw that the Wickedness of Man was great in Gen. 6. 5. Ver. 12. the Earth That all Flesh had corrupted his Way upon Earth And their Sin is given as the Reason of their Destruction And God Ver. 13. said unto Noah The End of all Flesh is come before me for the Earth is filled with Violence through them and behold I will destroy them with the Earth Accordingly we may observe that the Providences of God towards the Jewish Nation were very eminently suited to their Behaviour That though the Jews were the peculiar People of God and highly blessed they were frequently punished by God and at last destroyed for their Sins That their Kings the chief of their Priests and their People did wickedly and after the way of the Heathen before they were led into Captivity and Crucified the Lord of Life whose Mat. 27. 25. Blood they called for upon themselves and their Children before they were finally destroyed And as their Destruction which our Saviour Mat. 24. Mark 13. foretold is I think agreed on all hands to have been one of the most dreadfull instances of Misery that have been known to have befallen any Nation either before or since that time So †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Josephus de Bello Judaico Lib. 6. cap. 11. F. 933. Josephus though a Jew a celebrated Historian thus says That as he thought no Nation ever suffered such things so no Nation from the beginning of the World did ever so abound in all manner of Impiety to which Christians in this Age may justly add That by their continuing for so many Hundred Years to be a despised and vagabond People and scattered throughout the World without City or Country without Temple or Altar that we know of no Nation seems ever to have been so terrible and lasting a Monument of God's Displeasure for National Sin as that which this People was guilty of seems to be so much greater and to have higher Aggravations than the Sin of any other Nation The Holy Scriptures give the like Account of the Destruction of Damascus Thus saith the Lord Amos 1. 3. For three Transgressions of Damascus and for four I will not turn away the Punishment thereof so of Gaza of Tyrus of Edom and of Ammon Ver. 6. 9 11 13. And inform us that God raised up Cyrus calling him by his Name before he was in being for the Punishment of the Sins of Babylon Thus saith the Lord to his Anointed to Cyrus whose Isa 45. 1. Right-hand I have holden to subdue Nations before him and I will loose the loins of Kings to open before him the two-leaved Gates and the Gates shall not be shut I will go before thee Ver. 2. and make the crooked places straight For Jacob Ver. 4. my Servant's sake and Israel my Elect I have even called thee by thy Name I have surnamed thee though thou hast not known me And does not prophane History tell us among a Multitude of other Instances that might be heaped up That as the Pride and Voluptuousness of the Babylonians so the Lewdness of the Persians and the Luxury of the Greeks seem'd with their other Sins to be the remarkable Causes of the Ruine of those Empires And that the Romans who had been a People so eminent in their Morals that * Non est quod de summi veri Dei justitia conquerantur perceperunt mercedem suam lib. 5. de Civ Dei cap. 15. St. Austin thought that God might allow them the Government of the World for the Reward of their Virtue even under the Advantages of the Christian Religion became so very Degenerate and Debauched before the Devastations and Ruine of their Empire by the poor Goths Vandals and Huns one of whose chief Leaders called himself Flagellum Dei the Scourge of God that gave Occasion to a Father to cry out †In nobis patitur Christus opprobrium in nobis patitur lex Christiana maledictum Salvian That the Name of Christ became a Scorn and the Christian Religion was reproached by the Lives of Christians And to take some Notice of our own Country Do not the Historians of it acquaint us that the Britains the ancient Inhabitants of it ‖ Incolae aborigines moribus simplices integrique existunt longè à nostrorum hominum astutia versutiaque remoti Diodorus Siculus who had been remarkable for the Uncorruptness of their Manners were degenerated from the * Incolarum mores quod attinet fuerunt antiqui Britanni religionis disciplinarum cultores maximi Rob. Sheringham de Anglorum gentis â—rigine p. 14. Gildas de Excid Britanniae Simplicity and Sobriety of their Ancestours and
Love to God any Charity to Man any Concern for their Country or Regard to their Posterity to engage them in it consider that we have herein the Laws of God and the Nation the Commands of the King the Concurrence of a late Representative Body of the Nation the Prayers of good Men the Pretences of those that carry but a Form and Profession of Religion and the Consciences that are not hardned even of bad Men on our side and moreover the great Success that hath already attended these Attempts to animate and encourage our Zeal and Diligence in it So that if we acquit our selves herein like Men and Christians if God is on our side we know there is as Solomon says no Wisdom nor Vnderstanding Prov. 21. 30. nor Counsel against him we need not much fear the Strength or Policy of the World or the Powers of Darkness we may with God's Blessing see Prophaneness and Debauchery every day more and more fly into dark Corners as Idolatry of old did at the appearance of Christianity Vice be branded and confounded Virtue embraced Religion prevail England flourish and give such an Example as may provoke succeeding Ages and other Nations to an Imitation and give perhaps Occasion to reform Christendom and Mankind But what Triumph of Soul which neither Riches nor Honours nor the Flesh can give such happy Souls may Living or Dying have who have undergone Shame and Sufferings in the faithfull Discharge of their Duty and for the Cause of God who have been his Instruments in bringing about such blessed Effects nay in discharging their Duty herein and in other respects sincerely tho' Success which is not in our Power and will not be required of us should not attend it And on the contrary what severe Reflections they may hereafter make on their Behaviour who after this Matter is plainly laid before them and a publick Reformation of Manners seems to be put as it were into their hands will either openly oppose or secretly undermine the just Endeavours of it or that will not be prevail'd upon either to concur in the Methods that are already laid or to engage in any other that they can suppose may be more effectual for the carrying on a National Reformation that can contentedly look on and see their Fellow-Christians suffer in any kind by their brave Opposition to the declared Enemies of God and the Devil's Kingdom the Cause of Religion to be injured and depressed and their Country so much endangered for want of their giving their seasonable and zealous Assistance to it I will not undertake to describe I will only add That if the Attempts of Reformation which were began with so great Disadvantage have born up under so many Difficulties which are carried on by the united Endeavours of such Bodies of Men in the several Parts of this City are spreading through the Cities and Corporations of the Kingdom and are propagating in those of Ireland who have a Communication with one another are governed by Methods that have been approved by Persons of great Wisdom and consummated Judgment and which have been so highly successfull should be defeated by the Industry and Power the Number and Interest of its Enemies If I say we should suffer Debauchery and Prophaneness to regain their ground and to carry the Victory after the Advances that are thus made towards the Suppressing of them and the Encouragements and Advantages we have for the Carrying of them on to so glorious an Issue have we not very great reason to fear that we may never again have such an Opportunity put into our Hands Can it be thought easie humanely speaking to bring the Body of Men together that are now engaged in it to rally and reassume a Baffled Cause wherein they may perhaps be apt to think they may have made a full and dismal experiment of the desperate Aversion and Opposition of this Generation to Reformation have if they have acted therein and in other parts of their Duty sincerely kept the Guilt of publick Wickedness from lying on them and may have delivered their own Souls Or is there any probability that this Cause will be revived and successfully retrieved by those whom no Arguments will now prevail on to concur in the present Methods or to give any other zealous Assistance to it And who is there that believes that there is a Righteous God that governs the World that will not fear how sanguine soever some Men may be upon the firmness of our present Peace and Settlement that notwithstanding our Councils and Confederacies we shall feel the Effects of the high Displeasure of Almighty God upon whose Blessing the Stability of our present Peace and outward Prosperity does depend that He will be avenged on such a Nation as this And if Jer. 6. 9. this should prove to be our dismal Case might it not then be said over us O ungratefull and rebellious Nation that wouldest so provoke infinite Patience and Forbearance wouldest obstinately refuse so many gracious Offers contemn such various Methods of Mercy as if thou had'st been desperately resolved upon Destruction O England England To what Misery have thy Sins brought thee But the Cause of Reformation is God's Cause His Providence hath seemed to me to favour the poor Endeavours of it which are represented in these Papers and therefore I hope they will with his Blessing so prosper and prevail that such a National Reformation may be effected as may prevent His heavy Judgments falling upon us And may Almighty God who is pleased to magnifie his Power in Weakness for this end mercifully direct and support those who are sincerely engaged in this Glorious Work give what is said herein agreeable to his Will some Success in the furthering of it and graciously pardon any thing in it that may not be acceptable to Him for the Lord Jesus Christ's Sake All Glory to God ERRATA Pag. 5. lin 23. for evil read wicked p. 21. l. 3. for Interest r. Interests p. 26. l. 6. dele and. p. 41. l. 6. for know r. knew p. ibid. l. 26. for hath r. have p. 47. at the end of the Marginal Note dele p. 66 67. p. 57. l. 5. for do r. doth p. 5â— l. 4. for hath r. have p. 84. l. 2. for seems r. seem p. 98. l. 15. for pervented r. prevented p. 113. l. 16. for hath r. have p. 115. l. 7. for have r. hath Advertisement ABstracts of the Laws against Prophaneness and Debauchery Blank Warrants against prophane Swearing and Cursing Drunkenness and Prophanation of the Lord's-day by Tipling in Publick Houses and Exercising of Trade Blank Registers of such Warrants for the Magistrates calling of Constables Church-Wardens Overseers of the Poor c. to account at the Sessions or otherwise for the Execution of them and the application of the Mony thereby levied to the use of the Poor Prudential Rules for the giving of Informations to Magistrates in these cases Printed for the ease of
entrusted with it for his Honour and the Good of his People That by their faithfully Executing the Laws against Offenders particularly those that are made for the Honour of God the Suppressing of Prophaneness and Immorality they are to be a Terrour to Evil doers and in order to this that they would therefore remember That as the poorest Wretch hath a Talent that he must render an Account of they must expect one day to appear at a Tribunal themselves and give an Account of the discharge of their Oaths and Trusts of the Employment of their Authority and their other Advantages and for the Deluge of Evils that either hath or may fall upon the Nation through their wilfull Neglect of their Duty for our Blessed Saviour hath told us That unto Luk. 12. 48. whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required And the Authour of the Book of Wisdom thus expresses himself to this purpose Hear therefore O ye Kings and understand Wisd 6. 1. learn ye that be Judges of the Ends of the Earth Give ear you that rule the People and glory in 2. the Multitude of Nations for Power is given you of the Lord and Sovereignty from the Highest 3. who shall try your Works and search out your Counsels because being Ministers of his Kingdom 4. you have not judged aright nor kept the Law nor walked after the Counsel of God Horribly and speedily shall he come upon you for 5. a sharp Judgment shall be to them that be in high Places For Mercy will soon pardon the Meanest 6. but mighty Men shall be mightily tormented To the GENTRY and COMMONALTY of the Nation that they consider That tho' they have not the particular Oaths and Vows the Trusts and Authority of any of the Orders I have mentioned they have notwithstanding their Baptismal Engagements upon 'em which they own when they come to the Holy Communion and that if they would acquit themselves as Christians they must endeavout to be such in all their Relations to behave themselves as good Magistrates and Subjects as good Citizens and Members of their Community as well as good Masters and Servants good Parents and Children but that they cannot be reasonably thought to be so without having a Love to God a Zeal for his Honour or a Concern for the Welfare of their Neighbours and of the Community of which they are a part and that it may be doubted whether they can have either if they can contentedly hear without any Concern Men openly affront their God bid Defiance to his Laws go on with a full Career to Destruction and bring Decay and Ruine upon their Country which 't is evident they may use proper and effectual means to prevent as particularly by their giving of Informations of enormous Offences to the Magistrate which I have in another place more largely insisted on and which they have at this time so fair an Opportunity to employ as is offer'd them by the Declarations of the Government and the Assistance of such Bodies of Christians that are not only in and about this City but that are spreading through the Cities and Corporations of the Kingdom And do you think it dishonourable for you to conceal any Offences that endanger the Government or any Injuries that are done your Neighbour when you can do him right by the bare discovering of it to the Magistrate Is it reckoned an Act of Bravery to adventure your Lives in the taking of a Thief or a Murtherer An Act of Charity to prevent any Injury to your Neighbour in his civil Concerns to hinder a Fool or a Lunatick from wounding of his Body or destroying his Life And is not a sincere endeavour to prevent the publick Dishonour of the Name the Day and the Laws of God by acquainting the Magistrate with these high Offences in order to the Suppressing of them as is done with general Approbation and Applause in other ordinary Cases when Men's private Rights the Security of the Government or the Welfare of the Nation is concerned an honourable Work and becoming Christians Does it become a Soldier of Christ Jesus to see Him publickly affronted to hear his Name and Wounds mentioned oftner in horrid Oaths and Execrations than in serious Discourses his Laws trampled on and their Fellow-Christians to live in the open Commission of such Sins as manifestly tend to bring great Calamities upon them in this World to destroy their Souls and draw down National Judgments without taking any kind of Notice of these things and only for fear of meeting with reproachfull Words or rude Treatment which yet the Magistrate if he hath a just sense of his Duty will not suffer from a hardned Offender or the Advocates of Vice from such whose Commendations a virtuous Man would be inclined to look on as a real Disparagement and their Company a Scandal and when in the Discharge of what they justly apprehend to be their Duty they may have for their Comfort and Support some of the great Rewards of Religion in this World the Approbation of their own Consciences and of good Men with the hopes of an Everlasting Reward on the other side of the Grave Can this be imagined to be a signification of a Zeal for God of our loving Him with all our Hearts c. or our Neighbour Matt. 22. 37 38. 39. as our selves Does this Behaviour adorn the Gospel Would the Christians of old have thought well of it Or is it sufficient for us to call our selves the Disciples of the Blessed Jesus who went about doing good without endeavouring Act. 10. 38. in any degree to follow his glorious Example Herein then our Gentry and Commonalty seem to have a great Opportunity of furthering the Work of Reformation But this is not all the Advantage they have if the Laws that relate to Religion are upon so many and such momentous Considerations thus Zealously to be put in Execution it is I think evident that not only those Persons that violate and contemn those Laws but those that are unconcerned for and discourage the Execution of them cannot with any Colour of Reason be esteemed Friends to their Country but rather as unworthy to live in it and enjoy the common Benefits of it * Omnes quidem Magistratus in bene constituenda republica convenit esse virtute praeditos sed maximè eos qui senatoriae dignitatis gradum obtinent nec est laudanda respublica in qua peraeque bonis malis prudentibus stultis honores tribuantur quare legibus hos oportet esse descriptos ut quorum virtus industriaque fit bonorum approbatione commendata his honos debeatur Unde in antiquorum rebuspub statuae arcus triumphales sepulchra publica laudationes alia id genus meritis tribuautur and if so they are unquestionably much more unfit for and unworthy of Posts of Honour and Trust and those that concern themselves for the Election